Upgraded to the new 20 watt laser from the 10

[RussellVickery]

I have a atomstack x7 pro and I have upgraded the laser to the 20 watt model. on all the information I read it seems that it was possible to use the new laser on the old bed. I am using a Mac mini as my computer and while light burn sees my laser nothing works when I frame or go to home? I have to manually install a laser device and use the standard grbl selection. Any suggestion to get the new laser working?

[DaveK-OR (Dave Keasey)]

Update… If you are talking about the Atomstack module that has 20W output, you should note that it probably requires a 24V power supply. I don’t know what the power tolerances are for that controller, so it is possible that you could run it on a 24V supply without causing damage. On the other hand, you will have issues with the laser module if you are running it off the 12V supply that normally comes with the A5 M50.

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Did you upgrade the power supply to go with the higher-power laser module? The 20W module should take a higher Amp power source, and it’s remotely possible that a high load on your power supply could pull down the voltage enough to cause issues. To test this, just disconnect the laser module, and check to see if the machine will “go through the motions”.

Did you change any of the $ settings or LB settings when you swapped out the laser module? If the module was simply swapped without changing settings, it should have worked, but it would burn more deeply (so you would need to adjust speed and power settings for specific jobs). If you saved the settings for the 10W module, just reload those and swap in the 20W module (but be careful to run at higher speeds or lower percent output if you are burning anything).

I’ve got an Atomstack A5 M50 40W unit, and the controller itself has no “knowledge” of what laser module (if any) is attached… The 4 wires to the module are simply a pair for power, and a pair for pwm power modulation. If the connector to the module is disconnected, the machine still runs, but cannot fire the laser. I suspect your controller is similar.